Talkin' After Hours with the Lower Blackwood LCDC

In this Talkin' After Hours Podcast Jo & Kate chat once again to Victorian cropper, seed grower & beef farmer Grant Sims. Grant has driven farm health and productivity gains on his farm through adhering to a set of principles that have included the use of multi species cover crops, eliminating the use of 'icides' and largely replacing high input synthetic fertilisers with foliar fed biofertilisers...

In this Talkin' podcast Jo & Kate chat to Jade Killoran, Victorian independent multispecies cover crop advisor, researcher and founder of Healthy Farming Systems.  Although the Victorian climate is slightly different to ours, it is similar enough that so much of what Jade has researched is very applicable in our environment. In this episode we  explore with Jade her research and trial findings and...

In this podcast episode Jo & Kate talk with South West farmer Blythe Calnan about her regenerative journey with her partner Greg Hooper - their motivations, the challenges and the opportunities in running 'Runnymede', a commercial regenerative farm. This podcast is supported by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development as part of a collaboration bringing Dr Christine Jones to W...

In this episode Jo & Kate talk with South West equine agronomist Belinda Taylor on horses, pastures & soil - including how to get more diversity into equine systems and what that means for management of your horse or horses.  This podcast is supported by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development as part of a collaboration bringing Dr Christine Jones to Western Australia in Febr...

In this Talkin' episode Jo & Kate talk with internationally renowned soils ecologist Dr Christine on the secrets that make healthy soils tick and the soil as a living system - including a dive into the 'liquid carbon pathway' – what it is, why we need it, how to help it and how to avoid hindering it. This podcast is supported by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development as part...

In this Talkin' episode we talk to Holistic Grazing expert Dr Judi Earl on the principles of grazing management and how grazing livestock can be used to regenerate their land. This is our second podcast with Judi, we chatted to her last year all about Grass – in fact that podcast is a 'must listen to' as a good understanding of how grasses grow and respond to being grazed is key to understanding h...

In this Talkin' episode we delve into 'warts & all' exploration on the planning, preparation & implementation of a 'Do it yourself' Soil Carbon project. Our guests are Jennifer West from Carbon West, founder of Carbon West, an independent carbon services consultancy specialising in soil carbon project research, assessment, and development, and Brett Hazelden, a Lower Blackwood sheep farmer who is...

In this podcast episode we chat with New Zealand agroecologist, author & educator, & the perennially effervescent Nicole Masters, on the topic of weeds & their management - not in the conventional way, but through the lens of ecosystem health. In this perspective weeds are not seen as the 'foe', nor is there a need to 'wage war' on them, instead an ecosystems approach seeks to understand what thei...

In this month's podcast episode we talk to South Australian viticulturist, natural systems thinker, scientist & educator, Dr Mary Retallack. In 2012 Mary undertook a PhD research study which really challenged the conventions of viticulture by harnessing the power of native insectary plants as a key to managing vineyard pests naturally. Her research, and passion for the topic has culminated in an e...

In this episode of Talkin' After Hours we talk to south west farmer and grass fed beef producer Warren Pensini. Warren is a a 4th generation cattle farmer &, together with his wife Lori, manages 'Paraway', a 664 ha property in Boyup Brook. Warren & Lori's philosophy is to produce quality food ethically in a manner that has minimal impact and stress on their animals, community and environment, whil...

In this Talkin' After Hours podcast , Jo & Kate talk to A2 milk producer Brad Boley, & University of Southern Queensland Research Fellow, Dr Stephan Tait about an alternative way to manage dairy effluent. In 2019 a trial of manure separation was conducted on Brad's farm using a commercial dewatering/filtering equipment called the Z-Filter. The aim of manure separation is to provide options for dai...

In this episode of Talkin' After Hours Jo & Kate chatted to molecular biologist, Dr David Johnson & his wife Hui-Chun Su Johnson about David's research and development of an agricultural management method called BEAM (Biologically Enhanced Agricultural Management) and the now renowned composting system he devised with Hui-Chun called the Johnson-Su Compost Bioreactor. This composting process produ...

In this episode of Talkin' After Hours Jo & Kate tapped into Dr Judi Earl's PhD on Pasture Ecology to talk grass, and also how land managers can enhance the condition and productivity of their land through improved ecosystem function, and more effective utilisation of their pasture.

In this Talkin' After Hours Podcast, Jo & Kate chat to agroecologist David Hardwick from Soil Land Food. The topic for this episode is something of a conundrum for this neck of the woods... that is, how do we go about transitioning from a primarily annual & low diversity pasture system to a multispecies & perennial system in a Mediterranean climate...and why we should consider doing it? This podca...

When done right, carbon projects boost a farm's bottom line and increase the productivity of the land. The key is carefully integrating carbon farming projects within an existing production system, but navigating the process can be confusing. In this episode Jo & Kate talk to Carbon Farming Foundation (CFF) Founder & CEO Lachy Ritchie about the Carbon Farming landscape in Australia and how CFF's D...

In this Talkin' After Hours Podcast Jo and Kate talk to Mark Tupman from Productive Ecology.  For over two decades Mark has been active in the fields of organic/biodynamic production, permaculture, sustainability, agro-ecology and holistic management and in between times managed an orchard, animals and food gardens on his own property. Recently Mark has been working with the LCDC as a project cons...

In this episode, Kate and Jo talk to beef farmer, cropper & seed grower Grant Sims from Down Under Covers. Grant Sims is a sixth-generation farmer running the family farm with his wife Naomi and 4 children in Northcentral Victoria Australia. The farm is 8500 acres of dryland and some irrigation. When Grant took over the farm full time he started looking at ways to improve the life and function of...

In this episode of Talkin' After Hours, Jo & Kate talk to Rowan Reid from Bambra Agroforestry Farms. Rowan is the Managing Director of the Australian Agroforestry Foundation and co-founder of one of Australia's largest and most successful Landcare groups, the Otway Agroforestry Network. Their conversation with Rowan dives into the world of agroforestry & the  topic of 'trees in farm for a purpose'...

Dick Richardson is an internationally recognised leader in the practice of natural grazing to improve soil depth and health, water retention, increased biodiversity and animal production. In this podcast episode Jo & Kate talk to Dick about his method of grazing to regenerate soils, 'Grazing Naturally', - how it works & why Dr Christine Jones recommends it.

Neils Olsen is the inventor of the Soilkee Pasture Renovator , and together with Corporate Carbon was issued the first soil carbon credits under the Australian Government's Emissions Reduction Fund in March 2019. In just six years, Niels used his invention, in combination with multispecies cover cropping, to lift soil organic matter levels from 2% to 10% on his beef property in Gippsland, Victoria...

In this episode Jo & Kate talk to internationally renowned and highly respected groundcover and soils ecologist Dr Christine Jones about biodiversity on the farm, why it's important and how it can impact on soil health.

In this episode Jo & Kate talk to revegetation expert Brook Devine from Cape Life, on how to successfully revegetate areas of your farm & farm waterways.

In this episode Jo and Kate welcome Iszaac Webb from the Undalup Association, a not-for-profit organisation that supports the growth & diversity of Aboriginal & non-Aboriginal communities. Zac, as he likes to be known, is a Wadandi-Pibulmun cultural custodian of the Noongar nation. Zac's family have lived continuously on this land (the south west of WA) for generations and have passed onto Zac the...

In this episode, Joh and Kate talk to South Australian viticulturalist and 2019 Nuffield Scholar Richard Leask.  With support from Wine Australia, Richard travelled across Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, France, Canada, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, New Zealand and the US, meeting with regenerative agriculture farmers and leading soil researchers to identify practices that would be applicable in Aus...

In this episode, Jo and Kate are joined by Dave Rogers from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.  Dave comes from a farming background and has a real passion for helping develop agricultural systems that are as productive as possible while minimising offsite impacts.  Dave believes that "getting soils right" is one of the few areas where you can have massive positive impa...